I suspected as much about DAZ|Studio, but I thought I'd ask anyway. Thanks! Do you use Studio in conjunction with Bryce? Bryce can create depth maps as well as renders with transparent backgrounds. Plus, I've heard that version 5.5 is now available for free. I have both Studio and Bryce and really like them. I was just hoping that I didn't have to 'bounce' back and forth between too many different programs. Guess I'll just try Studio and Bryce together because I really want to give your program a shot!

As for rendering a depth map, Bryce is pretty straightforward, but it's kinda hidden. In the main Bryce window, there are 5 orb-shaped buttons that have the rendering options. To the right of those, are 2 downward facing triangles: the upper is for trackball options and the lower is for more rendering options. Click on the lower one and choose Distance Mask from the dropdown list. When you render, it will be a grayscale distance map, but the colors will be reversed (ie white to the back, black to the front). Open the mask in Photoshop or GIMP and invert the colors. You can adjust the brightness or contrast as necessary. Then, save as a normal bitmap.

In regards to the transparency issue, I misunderstood. I thought you were referring to transparent backgrounds, not transparency in the depth map.

i think this one kinda shows up the weaknesses of this method, though i am a known nitpicker.. reasons?

ok- the arms seem non solid, only the head is really fullon cos it doesnt overlap anything. the hands overlap heavily and break the illusion due to them being added on to the figure, like the right arm is again inside left thigh, left arm is on top of bikini...
So yeah, in my opinion this ones a shocker. have to be very careful with the character composition to avoid that sort of thing and go for maximum clarity, minimum overlaps.. artefacts are of course unavoidable but minimizable

Thanks for critique, Tuomas. Repeating pattern is what you have to deal with in stereogram. Overlapping always exist because same pattern is shared by all objects. It's not so obvious when abstract texture is used, but when it comes to a reailistic one, it may look shocking

Common way to reduce them - to sacrify object size (what I usually do). But I always wanted to make a portrait and this is the first try.